Toyota Australia increase prices by up to $3800: Existing orders not protected

If you've got a 300 Series LandCruiser, a Kluger, RAV4, Corolla or a Hilux on order, bad news: prices are about to rise. Even if you're already in the queue with a contracted price, chances are you're not protected.

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Toyota Australia has begun ramping up prices on a majority of its most popular vehicles and it’s unlikely that precious contract you signed is gonna save you.

Have you ordered a 300 series LandCruiser, a Kluger, or RAV4? The agreed prices you signed on will rise unceremoniously in some cases by up to $3000 and if you're in the queue, the chances are you're not gonna be price protected.

A highly confidential national sales dealer bulletin recently leaked into my grubby hands from a source I will not name, dated 9th of September. The early sales advice notice regarding a Toyota general price increase said:

Attention dealer principals, general managers, sales managers, fleet managers.

Please be advised TMCA (Toyota Motor Company Australia) will implement a general price increase across all models effective the first of January 2023.

Due to increased costs and inflationary pressures here and overseas…

So, just bending everybody over for no reason, covertly. I'd suggest stray attacks might be a factor as well here.

…the previous communication process provided advice of a general price increase one month before implementation however due to the current circumstances including ongoing strong guest ordering

“Guest”, I mean FFS, Toyota. They're customers, not guests.

We understand the need for appropriate guest communication. To assist you, we are releasing this information almost four months early…

The better for it to leak into the hands of horrible bastards such as AutoExpert.

The updated pricing will not appear on dealer management systems until the effective date so please take this into account on orders that will be delivered after January the first, as per the first enhanced communication bulletin issued in May.

The cost protection policy has been discontinued effective from the 16th of May ‘22.

Meaning they're not going to look after you and stick to the deal that you struck on the showroom floor all those months ago, before you decided to wait patiently for them to get their act together. So they're not going to do that.

this therefore means any order taken after May the 16th and plan for delivery after January 1st of next year (2023) will not be price protected from this general price increase.

So, if you ordered your brand new Toyota after May the 16th 2022, and delivery is not planned until after January 1st, 2033, your prices are going up.

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WHAT GOES UP GOES UP, AT TOYOTA

So, this price rise. You can either suck it up like a big boy or you know get ready to jump out of the queue and on to somebody else's queue, with presumably some other multi-month wait, which will suck just as much.

Here are the price rises according to the leaked dealer document (download here >>). Hilux is a bit complex, but everything else seems fairly straightforward. So:

• Camry petrol and hybrid Ascent Sport and SL going up by $1500, and SX going up by $2000.

• Corolla hatch petrol and hybrid all grades $500, Corolla sedan petrol and hybrid, all grades get a $500 price increase.

• Yaris petrol and hybrid $900 each respectively.

They're also saying there'll be a tech change from September for Corollas, but nobody knows what that is yet, so it's anyone's guess. You'll have to just hang around and be told, I suppose.

Camry +$1500-$2000

Corolla +$500

Yaris +$900

Now for soft SUVs according them:

• CH-R petrol and hybrid all grades $800 up.

• RAV4 petrol and hybrid all grades $1500 up.

• Kluger petrol and hybrid all grades $1400 price increase.

• Yaris Cross petrol and hybrid all grades gone up by $850.

Now for the RAV4 and Kluger both petrol and hybrid they're also saying a tech change is coming from October 2022.

Commercial vehicles now

This is where the big bucks are in the context of price rises at least.

Fortuner (all grades) $2000 price increase.

Granvia (all grades) $2000 up as well.

Hiace van (all grades) $1600 up and Hiace bus (all grades) $3800 more expensive.

4X2 Hilux Workmate up by $1150, SR up by $500 and SR5 up by $900. That's the 4X2 Hilux.

Prado - all grades $2000 more expensive.

Fortuner +$2000

Prado +$2000

Granvia +$2000

Hilux 4X2: +$500-1150

Hiace van +$1600

Hiace bus +$3800

LandCruiser 70, not that it actually exists yet - it's just a concept at the moment - but all grades are $2000 up. They say a tech change from September 2022 is happening there as well.

LandCruiser 300 Series, all grades, $3500 up - ouch! That's only just come out, too. What possible justification is there to pump the prices up on that big planet polluting barge by three and a half grand? Nissan says ‘thanks a lot, Toyota - we'll take that.’

There'll be a running change for LC300, they say, from November this year but no details on what that is.

LC70 +$2000

LC300 +$3500

There's also a little asterisk type note on the bulletin that pertains to all of these price increases, with additional comments. It says:

any model line undergoing a technical change may also incur an additional price rise separate to this GPI.

So the tech changes involve all the Corolla models in hatch and sedan, and both the petrol and the hybrid; the RAV4 in petrol and hybrid; the Kluger petrol and hybrid; the LandCruiser 70 - and maybe the LandCruiser 300 because that's a running change, not a tech change according to them.

Now, if you're in the market for a Hilux, it looks like there's either no price rise increase in many of the models, but it might be $250 up in a smaller sub-category of these models which are:

• single-cab 2.4,

• double-cab cab-chassis 2.4 (auto),

• extra-cab cab-chassis 2.4 (auto),

• double-cab pickup 2.4 (auto),

• double-cab pickup 2.4 (manual). So that's automatic and manual - they're all up by 250 bucks.

The single-cab cab-chassis auto and manual are also up by 250 bucks,

Extra-cab pickup - only the auto this time in SR5 grade - is 250 bucks more expensive. These are all in the 4x4 Hilux.

Then the double-cab cab-chassis auto SR5 and the two different auto SR5s for double-cab cab-chassis - they're both up by 250 bucks.

You can download the full Toyota price increase bulletin for yourself here >> in PDF form to read and weep about how much extra Toyota is going to extort from you if you ordered after May the 16th and your delivery is planned after January 1, 2023.

Don't shoot the messenger here, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but I just say Toyota's a pretty crook operator in our market, in my view. They think their faecal matter doesn't stink and guess what - it does.

This is just more fodder for them to lose market share and your loyalty incrementally, because everyone's got a breaking point and there are so many people out there right now in the queue just getting utterly fed up.

Fortunately for anybody who hasn’t pushed go on a new Toyota, there are plenty of other good quality brands in the market who have cars waiting right now for you to buy.

That’ll be an extra $3500 for your 2.6-tonne LandCruiser and a long wait just to take delivery.

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